Reconceptualizing De and Li: New Insights into the Zuo Zhuan and its Spring and Autumn Context

<p><span>The political thought of the Western Zhou, primarily the grand system of </span><i>Li</i><span> (Ritual) and </span><i>De</i><span> (Virtue/Potency), evolved during the Spring and Autumn period into a distinct system of thought and a political program of action for the feudal lords and high officials. </span><i>Zuo Zhuan</i><span> contains extensive narratives concerning </span><i>Li</i><span> and </span><i>De</i><span>; according to Mr. Yang Bojun’s textual statistics, the character </span><i>Li</i><span> appears 462 times, while other scholars note that </span><i>De</i><span> appears 333 times. These narratives are dispersed throughout the text, offering diverse perspectives shaped by varying contexts. Departing from the "concept-first" approach typical of intellectual history, the author adheres to a historical methodology, using the narrative of </span><i>Zuo Zhuan</i><span> as the fundamental thread to trace the origins of these ideas and formulate a theoretical synthesis.</span></p> <p><span>Observing the practical successes of "<i>De</i>" as a political concept in guiding ideology and strategic behavior, the author proposes that "<i>De</i>" in the Spring and Autumn period was not merely a thought, but a concrete existence of political potency. Through the analysis and citation of over 100 passages from <i>Zuo Zhuan</i>, this work clarifies the historical background and narrative content to understand the starting points, ideological foundations, and the rationality of its conclusions. Because this "dynamic" analysis addresses not only "what" but also "why," it allows us to answer various scholarly questions regarding <i>Zuo Zhuan</i> at the level of political and historical principles, rather than merely at the philological level.</span></p> <p><span>Accordingly, the author extracts a multi-dimensional framework of "<i>De,</i>" including: the Attached Entity, Political Goals, Strategic Elements, Guiding Ideology, Foundational Mandate, Balance of <i>De</i> and Might, and Personal Morality. These dimensions are not isolated but interrelated, integrating into a complete system of competitive strength and methodology serving specific national objectives of the period, possessed and executed by the ruling class. Applying this framework to the analysis of key political figures throughout the Spring and Autumn period yields significant observations. While <i>Zuo Zhuan</i> may not reflect historical reality verbatim, it is a historiographical work that fundamentally reconstructs the "original context" of the era, possessing profound historical and intellectual value.</span></p> <p><span>This framework even demonstrates explanatory power in a mathematical sense—if viewed as a seven-dimensional linear space of "<i>De</i>," the profound interactions between dimensions collectively drive the development of the space, and thus, the development of history. While we do not intend to transform historical research into mathematical study, mathematical relationships often reveal the intrinsic nature of theoretical structures. This exploration, which transcends the boundaries of traditional humanities research, is briefly discussed in the Appendix.<br></span></p>